Page 111 - 2019 September 11th Christie's New York Chiense Art Himalayan bronzes and art

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A SILVER-INLAID AND POLYCHROMED BRONZE
FIGURE OF A SAKYA LAMA, POSSIBLY A NGOR
MONASTERY ABBOT
CENTRAL TIBET, TSANG PROVINCE, 15TH CENTURY
6æ in. (17.2 cm.) high

$15,000-20,000

PROVENANCE
Acquired in Hong Kong, 1987. by repute.
The pointed red cap with pendent lappets as well as the
three-piece robe identify the present fgure as an adept
teacher from the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
The cap is known as a pandit’s hat, and was worn by
Indian scholars of the great Buddhist monastic university,
Nalanda. The Sakya sect, founded in Tibet in the eleventh
century, carries on this tradition. While it is clear that the
present fgure is a Sakya hierarch or part of an important
incarnation lineage within the tradition, it does not bear
an inscription or identifying iconography and cannot be
identifed further.
Wide-set, piercing eyes, inlaid with shining silver, give this
Sakya lama an awakened aura. The casting is extremely fne
and reminiscent of a style associated with Central Tibet.
The modeling of the face and lotus petals, as well as the
alloy tone, are strikingly similar to two published examples
illustrated by H. Stoddard and D. Dinwiddie in Portraits
of the Masters: Bronze Sculptures of the Tibetan Buddhist
Lineages, Chicago, 2003, p. 234, pl. 58, and in B. Chen,
Cang Chuan Fo Jiao Wen Hua Yi Shu = Sattva & Rajas: the
Culture and Art of Tibetan Buddhism, Taipei, 2010, p. 99.
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 245268.

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